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APS Press Room

News from the The Journal of Pain
Published by the American Pain Society

A Better Way To Measure Acute Post-surgery Pain?

GLENVIEW, Ill., Feb. 15, 2011 -- An ongoing challenge in pain management is finding ways to improve post-operative pain control. Failure to adequately control pain following surgery increases the cost of care and prolongs suffering. Current pain assessments using numerical rating scales are simplistic, fail to account for individual patient characteristics, and ignore the self limiting nature of acute pain and the rate of resolution.

Pain researchers from the University of Utah sought to devise a new method for assessing post-operative pain by using a trajectory approach. They defined the trajectory method as a way to classify patients over time based on resolving pain, maintaining a constant level of pain, or increasing pain. For their research, the team evaluated 711 elective surgery patients in the University of Utah Healthcare System.

Patients in the study provided daily pain reports for six days while hospitalized and following discharge. From the data collected the researchers concluded:

• Acute pain is a self limiting condition and measuring it should assess rate of resolution
• Obtaining repeated measures of pain over six days yields better measurement precision for rate of pain resolution
• Rates of pain resolution obtained from the trajectory approach are valuable for patient management and outcomes research
• The trajectory approach allows patient classification based on the direction of pain resolution -- better or worse.

The authors concluded that by using the trajectory approach to post-operative pain management it is possible to develop interventions that target rapid pain resolution. For risk-reduction improvements, the authors advised that computerized prescriber order entry systems can reduce but not eliminate errors. Other safeguards that should be implemented include limiting the number of similar medications available on the formulary and reviewing drug orders by for every prescribed analgesic.

About the American Pain Society

Based in Glenview, Ill., the American Pain Society (APS) is a multidisciplinary community that brings together a diverse group of scientists, clinicians and other professionals to increase the knowledge of pain and transform public policy and clinical practice to reduce pain-related suffering. APS was founded in 1978 with 510 charter members. From the outset, the group was conceived as a multidisciplinary organization. APS has enjoyed solid growth since its early days and today has approximately 3,200 members. The Board of Directors includes physicians, nurses, psychologists, basic scientists, pharmacists, policy analysts and more.